NEW DELHI - Taking note of the growing menace of corruption in sports, the Central Bureau of Investigation in India will soon set-up a specialised unit to handle cases related to sports fraud, fixing and illegal betting. Making the announcement at the FIFA-Interpol national workshop here, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha highlighted lack of a legal framework as the main hurdle in probing cases related to sports fraud.

“We, in CBI, have taken due notice of growing menace of corruption in sports in general and challenges in football and other sports in particular...Very soon we shall set up a sports fraud investigation unit in the CBI under special crime branches,” Sinha said in his keynote address. He said this unit will act as repository of intelligence and data related to corruption in sports.“It shall coordinate with other law enforcement agencies of the world and act as a nodal agency to coordinate with states’ police forces. It shall be our endeavour to liase and coordinate with sports federations to build capabilities to tackle match fixing and corrupt practices,” he said. When questioned how the unit plans to work when there is no legal framework for probing corruption in sports, CBI officials said a law to tackle corruption in sports is in the final stages of drafting by the Sports Ministry.“We will send a proposal to the central government on setting this unit. Even though there is no law, we can still carry on enquiries like we did in 2002 in cricket match fixing till law proposed by Sports Ministry comes into being. The purpose is to be prepared when law is there,” a senior official said. Sinha said match fixing and other forms of sports frauds are so far concentrated in the field of cricket. “It is now known to all the enforcement agencies that betting networks operate very smoothly and efficiently in the country. Their tentacles spread even to small towns,” the CBI Chief said.He said advancement in communication technology is facilitating the growth of betting syndicates. “From the law enforcement perspective, it will be a mistake to conclude that corruption in sports in India is limited to cricket alone. The organised betting racket has to just change their focus to football and the entire football world will have a formidable adversary to deal with”, he said. Some persons recently arrested in Singapore on betting charges are of Indian origin and it would not take long for these groups to shift their operations in India, he said. (PTI)